Encyclopedia of Espionage, Intelligence, and Security

Black Ops

"Black ops" is shorthand for "black
operations," covert or clandestine activities that cannot be linked
to the organization that undertakes them. The term is a highly problematic
one, for a number of reasons. First, by definition, many activities
conducted by organizations such as the United States Central Intelligence
Agency (CIA) are never intended to be linked to the agency itself. Second,
a known example of a successful black operation would be a contradiction
in terms.

Third, and perhaps most important, is the fact that the term "black
ops" itself is much more likely to be used by novices than by
members of the intelligence community. A member of the CIA or any such
agency would not likely use such a term in describing a true black
operation for obvious reasons; agents would be much more likely to
disguise the nature of their undertaking with innocuous language. On the
other hand, the intriguing sound of the phrase "black ops"
makes it highly appealing to conspiracy-theory buffs and others whose
interest is more in fantasy than in the often mundane reality of
intelligence work. A search of the term "black ops" on the
Internet is likely to turn up material from the organizational fringes
(some of it tongue-in-cheek), rather than any serious investigation of
clandestine activities.

█ FURTHER READING:

BOOKS:

Kahaner, Larry.
Competitive Intelligence: From Black Ops to Boardrooms: How Businesses
Gather, Analyze, and Use Information to Succeed in the Global
Marketplace.
New York: Simon & Schuster, 1996.